The dome-shaped wigwam shown below (from the Library of Congress), is typical of the bark or thatch-covered single-family housing constructed on the East coast. It is thought that the East River Culture are the ancestors of the Algonkian-speaking people who inhabited the area at the time that the first European settlers arrived, in the Seventeenth Century. These people, referred to by archaeologists as the East River Culture, inhabited the western part of Long Island and co-existed with the tribes which lived further to the North and East. Around 1100 A.D., a new population, identified by archaeologists through their distinctive pottery, inhabited the area. The archeological evidence shows that fishing and the harvesting of shellfish were important occupations. Woodlands were cleared for fields which were planted with corn and probably beans and squash. The relatively warm, dry climate and the abundance of streams and tidal basins produced a variety of food sources. From about 1000 B.C., the native people of this area demonstrated a tradition of farming, permanent or semi-permanent villages and the use of baked pottery vessels. Archeologists believe that indigenous people occupied the area of Southern New York from about 4600 B.C.
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